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Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight knows its audience within its audience. It's one of the more engaging rhythm games I've played to date, even if I wish it was open from the start and had more to do. Like the Phantom Thieves, I have to follow my heart; and it sides with the music.
Most of my complaints are related to the RPG bits which are not the main focus of Darksiders III. It remains an action-fueled project and that's an angle it does well, reigning in some of the out-of-hand ideas from its predecessor. With all of the efforts to resurrect this once dead and buried series I hope there's a chance to wrap it all up with Strife: I want to see this story through until the end, blemishes and all.
Luckily, a sequel is already in the works and I will absolutely be there day one to play it. This has some great potential as a bite-sized series to spend an evening with. If I had kids, this is exactly the sort of experience I'd want to share with them. As a thirty-one-year-old bachelor, I still think it's pretty gosh darn rad.
Black Cat was a more formidable foil but Turf Wars continues to play to Spider-Man's strengths. Despite the one-note villain atmosphere the team at Insomniac managed to craft a compelling world around the conceit. With two thirds of the season pass in the bag I can honestly say that I'm invested.
There are plenty of things in Britain that aren't strong. The pound, the economy, my intestinal lining. But one thing that remains rock solid is our apparent nostalgia for the original PlayStation console. The launch of the PS1 was the moment that Britain apparently decided it wasn't "dorky" to play video games, thanks to trendy marketing tactics by Sony and a lot of demo pods in expensive nightclubs.As such, games like Crash Bandicoot, PaRappa the Rapper, and other cutesy characters, that your average Terry would have balked at in '93 as "for little kids", were now super-cool icons for the late teen/early 20's market. This nostalgic love runs deep even today, as exemplified by Crash's domination of the UK Charts for not one, but two summers in a row.Me, however, I wasn't sold. I didn't care much for the glut of 3D platformers that swamped the shelves in the wake of Nintendo's Super Mario 64. I was all about the punching and the giant spiders and the powerbombs. So, it's with a bit of sigh that I received my review code for Activision's Spyro Reignited Trilogy, which compiles three dragon-y adventures from the later years of the PS1. I played the original game way back when, but that has become a fog with time. Y'see, I don't particularly care for the genre, or the characters, or the starry-eyed nostalgia surrounding Spyro's brand.But the smug little bastard put me in my place, that's for true.
Overall, it just feels like there are a lot of missed opportunities in Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition. The gameplay certainly works, but there's really nothing all that spectacular about it. The violence is there, but it just feels tame even in comparison to a bloodless 20-year-old competitor. The game modes are all genre-standard, but there's really nothing to separate it from a normal sports game. The aesthetics are cool, but there really aren't any differences between players and races apart from cosmetics. It's punny, but not really all that funny. It's a game that's ultimately dragged down by too many buts to really stand out and make a name for itself.
While I'm happy with what we got, I ultimately can't help but wonder what another six months could've done for Battlefield V. In a business with virtually no downtime, that's just the way it is.
I can't believe it took Game Freak over 20 years to give us an RPG-oriented console Pokémon game, but with the ever-changing mobile landscape and the success of the Switch, the opportunity finally presented itself. No, Let's Go is not the mainline entry that EV/IV min-maxers hoped for, but that's still on the way. If you happen to miss this return to Kanto, that's perfectly fine, but I was mostly delighted to go back.
Save me Mr Tako successfully apes a period of gaming history, but I just wish it had shed a few of the more tiresome tropes from that time. If you're part of the niche audience that this is catering to, you'll find a fun romp down what feels like memory lane. For everyone else, I'd proceed with caution.
For a game called Just Dance, I often have a hard time just doing anything. Using my very expensive phone in my hand as I flail about is not my idea of a feel-good experience as I am constantly aware and being careful. The bottom line is that if you've been playing and enjoying Just Dance games for years, and now you want to be able to dance around to such classics as "DDU-DU DDU-DU," pick up Just Dance 2019 I guess, and hope the mobile app actually works. If you're new to the series, just find someone on Twitch streaming it and dance along at home.
Some people will be disappointed by the lack of competitive modes, and that's fair enough, but don't let their omission bring you down too much. Tetris Effect isn't intended to be a heated head-to-head sort of game. It's more sentimental. Whether you've loved Tetris since the '80s or you've never quite meshed with its status as an all-time classic, you should be able to find something to latch onto here. Seasoned players can tweak the settings just the way they like and tone down the visuals. Newcomers can crank up the extravagant effects and relish the whimsical atmosphere. Everyone wins.
Hitman 2 is a colossal collection of puzzles begging to be solved through multiple playthroughs. It's meticulous in its scoring system, objectives, and unlocks. Even though this would have worked perfectly as a "season two" for the original Hitman, the need for a new package is perfectly understandable given their situation. I don't even need the Sean Bean and company timed challenges or the promising now-in-beta Ghost Mode (an asymmetrical gametype where you try to kill more targets than an opponent that exists in an alternate reality): just keep giving me more maps and I'll keep playing.
Certainly, if games like Day of the Tentacle and the Harvey and Edna series left you wanting to bash your head against a brick wall, you will need to play through the new Leisure Suit Larry with a guide – for your own protection.
Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session! (PS4)Developer: Bandai NamcoPublisher: Bandai NamcoReleased: November 2, 2018MSRP: $49.99 (No Drum)Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session, is the second of two Taiko games that launched last week, alongside Nintendo Switch release Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun. But whereas the latter's focus is on mini-games and party modes, Drum Session's PS4 release is more focused on the core Taiko no Tatsujin experience.Drum Session's rhythm-action gameplay is very straightforward. You bash along, on your drum controller or PS4 pad, in time to symbols that appear on a fast-moving on-screen track, ala Rock Band, Guitar Hero or any number of previous similar titles. The red symbols represent hitting the skin, the blue symbols require a tap on the rim. The larger symbols mean you strike with both sticks together, while extended yellow bars require players to hammer out a thunderous drum roll.Players score points for perfect timing, as well as for not dropping a beat, with extended combos making for major league scores. There is a large variety of songs to choose from, ranging in difficulty, and you can compete against a friend or against other player's "ghosts" online.
I can't help but wish they had done the work to make this updated version a bit more approachable via updated tutorials, but for those looking for that classic tale of a group of teenagers out to murder god, you'll find comfort in Resonance of Fate 4K/HD Edition.
"Roughly one week after launch" The Quiet Man is getting an update that will add audio into the mix, and thus, context. Maybe it'll be the most subversive, Molyneux-esque patch in the history of gaming. For now, Square Enix is charging $14.99 for a ticket to ride and I can safely say that you can miss this train.
The Hex is a really solid game that does a lot of very creative things. It's definitely worth the asking price. However, it certainly won't set your loins on fire and leave you dry humping the air for more. It's an enjoyable jaunt with some cool ideas. Nothing more, nothing less.
There's a lot of great songs to play in Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum 'n' Fun, even if its staying power is deflated a bit without friends due to the lack of modes. If you can get over that, Taiko's core "two-note" system is tried and true: the beat is strong with this one.
Reigns: Game of Thrones doesn't reinvent the Reigns formula but it certainly gets more out of it than either of the last two games. With clever writing and a deductive approach to ruling from the Iron Throne, it's a great way to revisit the world of Westeros as we await the final season of the show. Just don't stay around for too long or you might find yourself growing bored fighting against the Dornishmen for the umpteenth time.
Some technical and control issues aside, I still think the 3DS version of Luigi's Mansion is a solid option for newcomers or for people looking to revisit this GameCube classic. Catching various ghosts and completing Professor E. Gadd's gallery is a perfect time burner on the go and Grezzo have done a solid job bringing Luigi's Mansion to the 3DS. I just don't know if I'd prioritize playing the 3DS version over the GameCube version in the future.